Whether you're 16 or 60, you CAN travel just about anywhere in world for free -- and even with a nice stash of cash in your pocket -- by telling like-minded people about a trip and convincing them to go with you. Get 5 to 20 to book same trip, and your trip is free.

© 2004 by Jacqueline Corbett TheLivingWeb.net

If you have a burning desire to see Pyramids... or go on an African Safari... or snorkel Great Barrier Reef of South Pacific... and don't have cash, don't worry.

There's a good chance that you can travel for free to just about anywhere in world your heart desires just by locating a group of like-minded folks and convincing them to go with you.

And if you are really good at convincing a lot of fellow travelers to join you -- and have chosen right travel company -- you could also earn up to $10,000 a trip for your efforts.

Not bad for doing something you passionately enjoy doing, and meeting a whole bunch of people who enjoy same kind of traveling you do.

There are dozens upon dozens of travel companies who are actively seeking individuals to help them organize tours -- or promote existing ones.

Age is no consideration. Whether you are 16 or 70, there is a tour or tour group that is bound to suit your travel interests.

Teachers are actively courted to promote tours to their students... and even given handsome cash stipends to boot.

High school and college students are sought to promote grad trips and spring break trips to their friends and classmates. Besides free trips and "rock star" treatment, successful promoters can often earn as much as $10,000 per spring break.

Ministers and church members are rewarded for telling church members about pilgrimages and trips to holy land. With as much as $10,000 to be made per trip, booking and leading tours is a wonderful way to raise cash for a church building fund... or augmenting a minister's meager salary.

Scuba divers can get a free trip by organizing a scuba dive trip and promoting it to their fellow divers.

Lovers of oriental culture can get free trips to Japan or China, while connecting with a whole new group of friends and earning enough cash to dine well and bring back lovely souvenirs.

Travel companies will often pay cash when you produce more reservations than minimum required to earn a free trip.

The number of paid trips it takes to get a free one varies from travel company to travel company.

Some require as few as 5. Others as many as 15 or 20.

Many companies will reward you with multiple trips.

Most will also offer a commission which gets bigger more trips you sell.

It doesn't take any experience to get started -- and most travel companies supply you with lots of marketing materials and support.

The degree of involvement in planning and promoting a trip varies considerably.

05/05/2001

Mountains, massive piles of rock and earth shaped by glaciers, erosion, and weather; can conjure feelings of awe, enlightenment and fear in people. For millions of years weather systems have shed soft crystals of snow on these massive peaks, and now we stand as mere specs in history of these giants, aloft on their high ridgelines. As we descend a sensation secretes from our brains pulsing throughout our bodies as adrenaline, sculpting our passion to return to top of these towering peaks over and over again.

Jason Shutz waited a long time for this turn. Photo: Longnecker

Pursuing their love for mountains, Jason Shutz, Bill Buchbauer, Annie Fast, Chris Ankeny and Tom Routh headed for southeast Alaska in late April– Haines, Alaska to be exact. Haines has been moderately popular among ski and snowboard film crews for years, but still contains plenty of pristine wilderness only attainable by glacier plane and split board. The posse, made up of Montanans, headed to Haines for an affordable backcountry trip aboard Cessna ski planes. They were armed with split boards, mountaineering gear, and winter camping equipment. During first two weeks of April group bagged a lot of great sunny days up on glaciers, split boarding new lines and eying up lines for next year.

After a full day of Air Travel from Montana I arrived in Haines, Alaska aboard a single engine Cessna. Haines is positioned at North end of Alaska's Inside Passage and at Northern end of America's longest Fjord. The town shares its border with 20 million acres of protected wilderness: Glacier Bay National Park is 25 miles by air, and Canada's Kluane National Park and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park are just up road. A Bald Eagle Preserve is also just outside of Haines giving area an amazing collection of dramatic scenery and plethora of wildlife. Day Two of my trip was like 99% of Alaska days: it rained. The Montana posse that I came to hook up with spent day recuperating from a 4-day backcountry camping /split-boarding trip. I sat and listened to spook stories about new uncharted areas with sketchy snow pack, hairball plane flights onto glaciers, and all great runs in between. Make no mistake; no matter where you ride at home, Alaska is bigger. Everything in AK is big: mountains, fish, wildlife, trees, everything is just so damn gigantic. The air was getting cold and it was snowing on peaks; our conversations turned to next mission once sun broke again and stoke began to build among us.

This would have been an action photos, but it's raining. Photo: Longnecker